something to think about...

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.



4 minutes later:

the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.



6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.



10 minutes:

A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and thechild continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.



45 minutes:

The musician played.  Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.



1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.



This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?



One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....


How many other things are we missing?

 

More new soaps, you know you want to see them!

Hello,

So even though we have had a huge flood that flooded our entire basement (it's a long story and our neighbour's 50,000 litre pool split and headed for our basement). It's still under renos as we speak and there is a huge (I mean gigantic) bin on our driveway with all our fully furnished downstairs packed in there, no access to printers, things I need etc.).

Believe or not though I've carved out a tiny space to make soap. If you live nearby you can pick these gems up at Moss Street Market here. Here are my latest creations:

A cute Licorice mini soap:


This is a Lime Coconut one that has since turned brown due to the Coconut scent:

You can buy one here.

Yummy Banana Soap (I'm on a Banana frenzy lately)

To purchase this beauty go here.

Grass Soap (smells more fresh than real grass):

Grab one here.

I'm hoping to whip up some yummy (pink or peach) mint lip balms next week so stay tuned.

Other than creating and working I'm enjoying the nice sunny weather outside.

:)

A neat Short Video I Found

Saw this short stop motion film and thought is was neat. Check it out:



I love all the creativity that is used in it.

Chow for now :)

My Treat for Mom!

Here is a wonderful gift I made for my mom. It's a trio of products just for her: a fizzy bath soak, a foot scrub and then a body balm infused with coffee butter. The scent is sweet and fresh all at the same time.

I'm trying to blog more often now that our market season is in full swing. I seem to be making new products weekly.

Stay tuned for more adventures,

:)

Anise Licorice Baby

Here is another soap I made for our upcoming market. I've had requests for a Licorice soap so thought I'd whip up a batch for those people who love that scent. Thought I'd experiment with a new design technique.

Here it is in the mold:


Here are the cut bars:



I also made bath bombs with my sister but will post those later.

Chow for now :)

Making lots of soaps lately

Hello,

So I've been making lots of soaps lately and thought I'd showcase a few:


This is a Lime and Coconut blend.


This is a salt spa bar.


A Chai Tea bar


This is a Lemongrass one.


This one is a floral mixed with Coconut.


Antibacterial Tea Tree

That's all for now but I'm sure I'll have more soon.

Failure Leads to Great Things

So I found this great video after reading a great blog by Todd Cantelon (you can read about him to the right of his blog). I had the an opportunity to go to his church Freedomize Toronto years ago and really enjoyed it.

The video just shows you that failure can really take you places even though failing is never easy at the time.

I haven't blogged in awhile and less frequently these days as I got a new job last March which had a steep learning curve. There is still so much to learn but I'm feeling more comfortable now then I did last year. Also I'm back in the swing of things making soaps and trying to work on a new website which takes a lot of time.

Last week I had a chance to take a mini holiday and it was nice to get away even though it rained the whole time. Also it gave me a chance to get away from everything unwind and experience new things. I did a tonne of walking on that trip and bused all over the place to get from one end of the city to the other.

Will try to post some soap photos at some point so you can see my new creations.

Until next time I bid you Adieu.

How Big is Wal-Mart?

This was sent to me and I thought it was interesting.






HOW BIG IS WAL-MART?

This should boggle your mind!!

HOW BIG IS WAL-MART?

1. At Wal-Mart Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.

2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.

5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer.

6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.

7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.

8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).

9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 store in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.

11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately
6.5 billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.

Was not Bell Telephone comparable in it's days before the break up.?

Finally Getting Around to a New Post...

Life Is a Juggling Act

Well I'm sure everyone has jumped ship and isn't coming on to check my blog anymore and I can hardly blame you. Let's see it's been awhile since I last posted and a lot has happened.

I got a new job back in March and then went full time a few months back. On top of all that I'm still running a side business which keeps me going. Plus I've added exercise back into my life about 2 months ago. For awhile I was working out after work but I found at the end of the day I was tired and found myself dreading my workout. Last week I started getting up early in the morning to do it and it's made all the difference. Yes, it's tough to get out of bed but it's non negotiable and I tell myself it's now or after work and early morning always wins.

The other day someone asked me how I mange to work full time and run a side business and I just said that I don't have a lot of free time and I have to be disciplined in time management. It got me thinking about all the things I cram into a week. Being this busy though does make me appreciate those down times when I can sit and do nothing, take a nap, watch TV or read.

I'm also grateful for what I do have right now and have always appreciated the little things in life that make me happy.

That's it for me stay tuned I'll be posting more frequently now,

S.

Has It Been Two Months Already?

Well awhile back I ordered a custom soap mold that I was quite excited about. After many conversations and patiently waiting it finally arrived 3 weeks ago and I've been having fun ever since. I could bore you to death with tonnes of pictures of it but you get the jist. The mold is so versatile and has so many configurations I'll never tire of it. This first one shows three different chambers. This is one size but I also got another three chamber change that you change by swapping out the dividers and end pieces. You can also take the dividers out for a basic slab mold.I ordered several dams so you can made several different sized soap logs or individual bars etc.
This is an 18 divider option I can use or only use part of it to make 6 or 9 bars at a time.
This is a soap cutter that does a straight and wavy cut and also has a log splitter option.
And where did I get this amazing mold. It's found HERE.

Below is a basic cash box we bought since our old one was way too big and heavy to carry with us.
I didn't care for the colour so my sister and I decided to spruce it up a bit and add a creative flair to it.
Now I couldn't have such a gorgeous mold without making soap in it so here are some of my latest creations:
This is a White Tea and Ginger blend.
A beautiful Tangerine blend
Pomegranite tropical scent
Fresh fig scent
So as you can see my creative juices are in full swing. There are others waiting to be cut and photographed.